On January 23, 2015, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced that Canada will accept applications from January 28 to February 11, 2015, under the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital (IIVC) Pilot Program.

The new IIVC Pilot Program allows for millionaire immigrant investors to invest in the Canadian economy, in exchange for permanent residency.

The IIVC Pilot Program is open to individuals between January 29 to February 11, 2015, or until a maximum of 500 applications have been received. From this pool of applications, a random selection will be made until 60 completed applications are selected. After the selection has been made, additional documents will be required to complete the process, including a due diligence report of finances from one of six service providers listed by CIC.

All selected applicants must have a net worth of CDN $10 million or more and must be willing to make an at-risk, non-guaranteed investment of CDS $2 million over approximately 15 years. The IIVC Pilot Program has been designed to help elevate the Canadian economy, ensure long-term prosperity and grow Canada’s venture capital system.

The H-1B visa category is available to foreigners who perform services in a specialty occupation. The general requirements for these applications are twofold: (1) The proposed position with the U.S. company must be a specialty occupation (e.g. it requires a Bachelor’s degree or higher) ; and (2) The applicant must possess the requisite education, training, certificates, or work experience necessary to perform the specialty occupation.

Two recent federal cases illustrate the complexity of this category. In Warren Chiropractic & Rehab Clinic, P.C., v. USCIS, a federal judge overturned a USCIS denial where the applicant sought H-1B status as a Medical and Health Services Manager. The Judge ruled the agency was wrong in finding that a “medical and health services manager” position did not qualify as a specialty occupation. The court also found that USCIS was wrong to classify the beneficiary’s job as an “administrative services manager.”

Earlier this month, a different federal judge overturned a USCIS denial where the applicant applied for H-1B status as a Marketing Analyst (Raj and Co. v. USCIS). USCIS argued this was not a specialty occupation because it did not require a specialized bachelor’s degree, and did not meet their other regulatory criteria. The judge disagreed with USCIS, stating that “the patently specialized nature of the position sets it apart from those that merely require a generic degree.” The case was remanded to USCIS with orders to grant the H-1B petition.

Due to the complex nature of this category, it is not uncommon for initial petitions to result in denial due to lack of supporting evidence or improper job description. For further information, please contact PricewaterhouseCoopers Immigration Law LLP.